810 Les Miserables
rope had been cut. A precious sign which, however, led him
astray, since it caused him to turn all his researches in the
direction of the Cul-de-Sac Genrot. In this blind alley there
were tolerably low walls which abutted on gardens whose
bounds adjoined the immense stretches of waste land. Jean
Valjean evidently must have fled in that direction. The fact
is, that had he penetrated a little further in the Cul-de-Sac
Genrot, he would probably have done so and have been lost.
Javert explored these gardens and these waste stretches as
though he had been hunting for a needle.
At daybreak he left two intelligent men on the outlook,
and returned to the Prefecture of Police, as much ashamed
as a police spy who had been captured by a robber might
have been.